| For
over 50 years Stewart Fraser Ltd has been involved in
the Development and production of Roll forming sections
in both ferrous and non-ferrous materials. In the 1960's
the company installed an eight-stage Roll forming machine
for producing cable sections. This has now grown to
six rolling lines ranging from a ten stage rolling line
complete with pre-piercing unit and conveyor system
to a sixteen stage rolling line with 2 I/4 inch shafts,
complete with pre-piercing unit. |
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|
 All
of the rolling lines are suitable for high volume runs of
both ferrous and non-ferrous materials in thicknesses ranging
from 0.5mm to 3.0mm.
As in
most modern manufacturing processes, in order to maintain
a consistent, high standard of workmanship, the forming
processes require more sophisticated tooling. The average
'lead times' for production of new tooling is approximately
6-8 weeks, with a cost of somewhere between £5,000 and £8,000,
depending upon the number of stages and the complexity of
the material form.
For
this reason alone, Roll forming is not suitable for the
production of small quantities unless they are required
on a regular basis.  For high production runs, roll formed
sections can be competitive against standard sections even
after taking into account the cost of tooling. The advantages
being that several operations can be carried out such as
cutting to specific lengths, punching and notching during
the forming process, thus eliminating these extra operations
on standard sections which can be costly and time consuming.
Technical
- Profiles
rolled with very close tolerances.
- Basic
strip materials are consistent in both thickness and surface
finish.
- Weight
savings over comparable hot rolled sections.
- Uniformity
and accuracy of shape and thickness.
- Ideal
for coated products such as Plasticol.
Commercial
-
Large quantities can be formed quickly and efficiently.
- Custom
roll forming reduces waste (scrap).
- Components
can be produced ready to assemble with no further work
required.
- Freedom
of design.
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